By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The good news is that the Ministry of Education is providing extra child-care spaces for children up to age four – 404 of them by 2026, Director of Health and Human Services Glenn Dees told Northumberland County council at its October meeting.
The bad news is that they are coming gradually.
Dees described the spaces most immediately to be expected, operated through partner agencies on premises obtained by lease agreements.
In Brighton, 10 spaces have opened with operations run in partnership with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board.
In Cobourg, 15 spaces can be expected this fall, operating in partnership with YMCA Northumberland at the Centre for Individual Studies.
In Warkworth, a property has been purchased to accommodate 47 spaces to be operated by the YMCA, scheduled to be available by year-end.
The two spaces in Port Hope will be municipally owned premises. The Ruth Clarke property (to be operated in partnership with Ganaraska Child Care) should offer 70 spaces by year-end (though some work on the building is needed). At the Canton Hub (to be operated in partnership with the YMCA), 49 spaces are anticipated, though this project is currently under review as renovations and updates are required.
The work on the Ruth Clarke site was considered easier to address, so it is proceeding more expeditiously.
“Each party is very eager to see this project come to fruition and is working closely towards this goal,” Dees said.
Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland asked Deputy Warden Olena Hankivsky why, if the municipality was the landlord, the projects were being delayed. Why, he asked, are so many layers of government involved?
Delays have many causes, Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore said, such as contractors’ delays.
“The province is not keen on funding capital projects having to do with child care,” Hankivsky reminded Cleveland.
“Waiting is excruciating, undermining economic development in this community, putting families in distress.”
